Published in 1950 by the United States Geological Survey, “Cheyenne” presents the Wyoming capital and its surrounding country at the finely observed scale of 1:62,500. The map captures a mid-century landscape poised between frontier inheritance and modern development: a gridded city, military lands, rail corridors, highways, open range, and scattered water features all rendered with the disciplined clarity of USGS topographic cartography. Cheyenne appears not merely as a place-name but as an organizing force in the region, with roads and railways converging toward its urban center. Around it, contour lines describe the subtle rises and falls of southeastern Wyoming’s high plains, giving the sheet a textured sense of terrain and distance.

The United States Geological Survey brought to this map the institutional precision that made its topographic series indispensable to engineers, planners, travelers, and military users. By 1950, USGS mapping had become a mature scientific language: contour intervals, township and range divisions, hydrography, transport routes, and settlement symbols working together in an elegant visual system. The color scheme distinguishes cultural features from natural forms, allowing the viewer to read both human occupation and the underlying geography at a glance. Cheyenne’s streets and built-up areas contrast with open spaces, section lines, drainage courses, and the long alignments of roads and railways, creating a portrait of a city embedded in a vast, measured landscape.

One of the most historically evocative features is Fort Francis E. Warren, shown west of Cheyenne as a major military reservation. Originally established in the nineteenth century during the era of westward expansion, the fort remained deeply significant in the twentieth century, and its presence on this 1950 map speaks to Cheyenne’s strategic role in transportation, defense, and regional administration. The military reservation’s boundaries, roads, and relationship to the city reveal how civilian and military geographies coexisted on the high plains. In this context, the map is not simply a topographic document, but a record of federal presence, infrastructure, and the enduring importance of Cheyenne as a western military and logistical hub.

The topography surrounding Cheyenne is rendered through carefully spaced contour lines that reveal the hilly character of the region, with subtle elevation changes giving form to valleys, ridges, and open uplands. Lakes, ponds, and drainage features punctuate the sheet, indicating how scarce and significant water can be in this plains environment. Roads trace practical routes across the terrain, while railway lines underline Cheyenne’s longstanding importance as a transportation junction. The map also preserves the geometry of land division: boundary lines, grid sections, and reservation limits impose a human order upon the rolling natural surface. This interplay between contour and grid is one of the sheet’s quiet visual pleasures.

As a snapshot of Cheyenne in the mid-twentieth century, the map offers a compelling comparison with the city and its environs today. Urban growth, expanded infrastructure, changing land uses, and evolving transportation networks have altered the region, making this 1950 depiction especially valuable as a historical reference. Parks and open spaces, nearby valleys, military lands, roads, railways, and the compact urban footprint all speak to a particular moment in Wyoming’s development. For collectors, historians, and admirers of American cartography, “Cheyenne” combines scientific authority with regional character: a precise USGS portrait of a capital city, its strategic surroundings, and the high plains landscape that shaped them.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Cheyenne
• Fort Francis E. Warren
• Military Reservation
• Various roads
• Railway lines
• Lakes and ponds
• Nearby valleys
• Parks and open spaces
• Boundary lines and grid sections

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
• Created in 1950
• Map scale: 1:62,500
• Features Cheyenne, Wyoming, and its surrounding region
• Displays contour lines indicating elevation changes
• Shows water bodies and populated areas
• Uses color to differentiate land uses and natural features
• Illustrates hilly terrain and topographical variation typical of the region
• Provides a mid-20th-century snapshot of land use and development patterns
• Useful for comparing historic conditions with later urban expansion, infrastructure development, and changing land uses

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.